East Central Synod of Wisconsin

East Central Synod of Wisconsin

Congregational Vitality Survey Debrief Session

“Apprenticeship Model” Process

Rev. Amanda Nesvold, primary developer of process

Rev. Jean DeVoll-Donaldson, DEM, assisting

Objectives:

The goal of this type of initial feedback session is to teach congregational leadership how to work with the CVS data, use it to set priorities, and begin to move forward in planning.

Methodology and event outline:

The apprenticeship model employed here uses a “I do, we do, you do” pattern. This allows the congregational leaders to experience the process of working with the data in a supported environment before having to work with it alone.

Roughly, the feedback session will include several renditions of the pattern:

Introductions/Orientation
Connecting in the Big Categories
Connecting with God (I do)
Connecting with Each Other (We do)
Connecting with the World (You do)
Digging on the Details
1-2 “I do” charts
1-2 “We do” charts
1-2 “You do” charts
Putting it together
Leadership (I do)
Sustainability (We do)
Intersection of Vitality & Sustainability (You do)
Next Steps

Note: This document assumes familiarity with the CVS feedback reports and indicators.

Initial Preparation:

First read through: note your questions, highs and lows, charts that “don’t agree,” and other key points
The trickiest part of this method is in narrowing down the list of “detail” charts to include in the feedback event. You want ones that will help begin to tease out important information.
Categories:
Room to Grow: these charts “lean” to the right but still leave space for increase
Disagreement: these charts have “W,” “M,” or other shapes that may indicate disagreement in the congregation
Comparisons: some charts naturally relate to each other and can be helpful in showing how to relate different pieces of data to each other.
“I feel equipped to…” vs “I [actually] do…”[1]
“Pace of Spiritual Growth” vs “Social Climate”
Naturally interesting/helpful charts: If you cannot figure out what to include, look for:
Pace of Spiritual Growth
Social Climate
I feel equipped to share my faith; I have meaningful spiritual conversations outside the congregation
Diversity:
include charts from each of the three main sections
have the same number of charts for each of the apprenticeship levels (one or two, for a total of three or four, works best)
Order:
You do not need to do the charts in the same order they appear in the feedback report.
It may be more helpful for some charts to appear in the “I do” or “we do” sections than to leave to the leadership alone. “Social Climate” is one that lends itself well to “we do.”
“Room to grow” charts lend themselves well to including one in the “I do” section and one in the “you do” section. This empowers the leadership to build confidence in dealing with uncomplicated analysis.

The Powerpoint:

There is a template powerpoint presentation for this format.
Use screenshots of the report to fill in the charts
Fill in the scores where the blanks are
Place the star on slide 27 at the intersection of vitality the sustainability scores.
Double-check the animations!!
Don’t be afraid to ask a millennial for help!

Event Prep:

When
NOT as a business item in a regularly scheduled council meeting
When will the premeeting with pastoral staff take place? It can happen the day of the feedback event, but it is important that the feedback team have time between the premeeting and the event in case changes to the plan need to take place
Where
Will there be a projector? Will the room have space for conversation (as opposed to a forward-facing sanctuary where discussion is less comfortable)?
A projector is key so that the charts and data can be discussed in the planned order. Copies of the full report can be given to leadership at the end or after the meeting.
Who will be there?
Council
Staff (are any staff also members of the congregation or in leadership positions?)
Other lay leaders
Whole congregation
What
How is this being advertised?

Premeeting with pastoral staff

Overview of the results
God’s Active Presence[2]
Questions to ask:
Any history or other questions based on the initial read through (e.g. history of or current conflict, recent or upcoming periods of transition, division based on certain topics, etc)
When was this taken? Over how many weeks?
Why did the congregation take it? Why do they think they took it? What communication was done at the time?
Who will be at the event? (It is helpful if the premeeting is close enough to the event that the pastor(s) have a sense of this.)
Is there anyone who will be at the feedback event that the team should be aware of? (Answers may range from “Bob has a hearing aid that doesn’t work well” to “Jane is a known bully and aggressor.” It is important for the team to hear this information so that it can inform their leadership in the event, and for the team to hear with grace and confidentiality whatever the pastor may share.)
During the event, the pastors are asked to stay quiet. There will be an opportunity to say a few words at the end, but we have found that if the laity are not only encouraged but forced to speak before their clergy do, they are better able to claim their own leadership in this time.

Setting up the Event:

For small groups
Councils and small sized leadership teams (less than 15) can usually fit in one room around a table or U-shaped table. It is important that everyone can see the powerpoint presentation and that the room is set up to facilitate conversation amongst all. No one gets to sit in the back row and “just watch.”
For large groups
Tables in a fellowship hall work well for dividing up large groups. In the “you do” sections, the tables are invited to have conversation amongst themselves and then report back to the large group. If possible, dividing the leadership groups amongst the tables can help guide the leaders in hearing from a diversity of congregation members.
For medium groups
Groups of 10-20 might end up sitting in rows, but should still be encouraged to talk amongst themselves in groups of 3-4 for the “you do” sections.

The Feed Back Event:

Orientation
Open with prayer!!
Introductions:
The team: who ARE you people and why are you here to tell us about OUR church?
The congregation/leaders: who is in the room?
What is this meeting?
“What meeting do you THINK you are at?” and other expectations
This is NOT a meeting of answers. The goal is actually that the leaders will walk away with more questions than they came in with. But really, the goal is that they will walk away with more ways to engage their questions than they came in with.
General outline of the event & highlighting the apprenticeship model
Connecting:
Guess the Averages
On a piece of paper, note down your guesses for how the congregation as a whole thinks they are doing in the following areas. On a scale of 1-5 with one decimal point:
Connecting with God: 1 is “who’s that” and 5 is “God and I are BFFs forever.”
Connecting with Each Other: 1 is “I have no idea who else comes here” and 5 is “I know everyone’s name, maiden name, and birthdate.”
Connecting with the World: 1 is “wait, there’s a world out there?” and 5 is “We know and are known by everyone in our community.”
Don’t share these yet. Just hold on to them.
I do: Connecting with God
Whoever likes can share their guesses & why they chose them.
Look first at chart 1 and then chart 2. As a team, talk through:
What do you see?
High points, low points
What questions do some of the points bring up?
What category titles relate to each other and how does that change how you look at the scores[3]?
Name not just what you are seeing but how you are looking for it. (“I first look at the high points and low points. How do their categories relate? It makes me wonder how you could leverage [high point] to help build up [low point]…”)
We do: Connecting with Each Other
Take a moment for folks to “adjust” their guesses and share what they guess and why.
Working together, leaving space for people to think and jump in, go through the same questions as before.
Draw attention to categories that work with each other.
In this section, it can be especially helpful to note that “close-knit community” is not always a healthy indicator and can become a “closed knit” community.
You do: Connecting with the World
Take a moment for folks to “adjust” their guesses and share what they guess and why.
As a whole group or in small groups, invite the congregation leaders/members to talk through the same patterns of questions.
Be ready to affirm observations, support questions, and guide if the conversation gets confused.
Details: Next up, we’ll be looking at some of the more detailed charts and information. We will not be looking at every chart in the report, but learning how to engage with the charts. (The details of this section will depend on which charts you choose to put forward, but will generally follow the same method as in the previous section.)
I do
We do
You do
Larger Themes
I do: Leadership
Look at the various leadership charts.
Ask questions about the relationship between “I don’t know” on the type of leadership and the communication chart. Are decisions being communicated but not the methods of how decisions are made?
We do: Sustainability
Do the leaders agree with the sustainability perceptions of the rest of the congregation? What might cause this?
You do: Intersections
This section is a little tricky. It falls under “you do,” but will need a little more guidance.
Start by inviting those present to look at the list of six categories on page 11 of the report (slide 27 on the template presentation). Considering all the information shared so far, where do they think they fall?
Place the star in the powerpoint on the intersection of the vitality and sustainability scores. Note that those scores are both based on perception. If the congregation has particularly troubled self-esteem related to either or both those areas, the score may be low. (And the inverse if they have inflated self-esteem.)
Review the question set that goes with the box in which they actually landed
Next Steps
Jenga Blocks: Don’t start at the top!
Questions page preview: some good places to start
Communications chart: Make a decision TODAY about how this information will be shared
Questions & Comments
Pastor’s comments
Close with prayer!!

1 | Page5/29/2018

[1]Frequency charts: “regularly” is defined on the survey as between “2-3 times a year” and “once or more per month” and is phrased as “less than once a month.”

[2] Unless this section has particularly impactful results, it can often be set aside as information “of pastoral concern” and left to the pastoral staff to process and address.

[3] Highlight that even though we call them “scores” and “results,” higher doesn’t always mean better. This is not a pass/fail situation!